Mega-donor Financial Support Jolts Labor Unions

Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, No. 16-1466, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), was a landmark US labor law United States Supreme Court case concerning the power of labor unions to collect fees from non-union members.

The plaintiff in the Janus case (Mark Janus) was represented by the Liberty Justice Center who received key financial support from Republican mega-donor Richard Uihlein.

The Janus case is just one of a string of court cases challenging unions supported by wealthy conservative donors such as Uihlein and the Koch brothers. A paper published by the Economic Policy Institute links the court cases together and reveals an undisclosed agenda.

We examine the core group of organizations financing this litigation. By tracing the origins of these legal challenges, and explaining how the challenges target unions, we show that challenging fair share fees in the courts appears to be part of a broader billionaire-financed agenda to weaken unions and shift power away from ordinary workers. — Economic Policy Institute